< You should have read “Step-by-Step Guide on Making a Multi-lingual WordPress Website – Part 1” before reading this Part 2 section. >
After uploading WordPress software to your web server, the next step is to configure WordPress. Visit your website using a web browser. For example, if you domain name is ABC.com, you should visit http://www.ABC.com.
As the site has not be configured, WordPress shows the language option. You should select the language that you intend to use (for example, I choose English) and click “Continue” to the next screen.
The next screen explains the requirements before you can proceed to set up WordPress. These are the work we have completed in Part 1. So, just click “Let’s go!” to continue.
You need to fill in the database name, username and password that you created the MySQL database in Part 1. Click “Submit” to continue.
Click “Run the install” to install WordPress on your server.
Fill in the site’s title, username, password, and your email address. The username and password is the administration account of this WordPress site. Write down and keep the username and password in a safe place. Click “Install WordPress” to continue.
Once WordPress installation completes, you need to edit “wp-config.php” file to enable WordPress multi-site feature.
Click on “public_html” on the left column. Next select “wp-config.php” on the right column and then click “Edit” to modify the wp-config.php file.
In the editor, add “define(‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true);” just below “define(‘WP_DEBUG’, false);” and click “Save Changes”.
Now, log into the WordPress control panel.
On WordPress Control Panel, click “Tools” –> “Network Setup”
In “Addresses of Sites in your Network”, select “Sub-directories”. Enter the Network Title of your website. It can be anything but better represent your website. Also enter your email address. Click “Install”.
Follow the instructions on the screen and use cPanel File Manager to edit the wp-config.php and .htaccess file with the information just shown on the screen.
Once you have completed editing, you should log in again.
At the WordPress Control Panel, click “My Sites” –> “Network Admin” –> “Sites”.
In the Sites control, you should see only one site at the moment, which is the one you just created. Click “Add New” to add a new site for a different language.
To add a new site, you need to fill in the information about the site.
- Site Address (URL): < the URL of this new site, usually the 2-5 alpha code of the language >
- Site Title: < the site title in the language being added >
- Site Language: < choose the language from the drop down list >
- Admin Email: < provide an email so that the site information will be sent to you by email >
Click “Add Site” to add the site. You should repeat the process if you need to add more sites. For example, I added a Traditional Chinese and a Simplified Chinese WordPress sites, in addition the initial English site.
You can use the default theme or you can choose your own. Select “Themes” in the Network Admin if you prefer to choose your own theme.
Click “Add New” to install new theme.
Click on “Feature Filter” and check “Translation Ready” to only show themes that are ready for multi-lingual purpose. There are so many themes that you may have problem finding the right one for you and you never know which is good until you try them out. I would suggest you try a few before deciding which theme to use. Switching between themes are easy. For me, I choose the “Magazine Point” theme.
To install a theme, simply click “Install”.
After installing the theme, you need to click “Network Enable” to enable the theme for use on sites with various languages.
Goto Dashboard of your first site.
Select “Appearance” –> “Themes”
Click “Activate” to activate the theme for your use. Activate this theme on all sites (repeat the above step one by one).
I will leave the theme customization to your own exploration. The next step is to install the multi-lingual plugin. The multi-lingual plugin we use is called MultilingualPress.
Click “My Sites” –> “Network Admin” –> “Plugins”
Click “Add New”
In the “Keyword” search dialog box, key in “multilingualPress” to find the plugin. Click “Install Now” to install the plugin.
After installing the new plugin, you need to click “Network Activate” to activate the plugin.
Click “Settings” –> “MultilingualPress”
Make sure the boxes are checked as shown in the diagram and click “Save changes”.
In “Language Manager”, change the priority of the languages you are using in WordPress. The priority will be used to determine the visitor’s language preference. A high score means high priority
Next step is connecting sites of different languages together so that they work seamlessly. Select “My Sites” –> “Network Admin” –> “Sites”
Click “Edit” on each site to select the language for the site.
In MultilingualPress tab, choose the language used by this site. Check the box to enable automatic redirection and click “Save Changes”.
Edit the second site
This time, beside choosing the language and enable automatic redirection, you need to check the relationship box to link the sites together. Click “Save Changes”. Repeat the same action in all sites.
After the editing, relationship among all sites will be defined and automatic redirection is enabled (as shown in the screen capture above).
Congratulation! You have just completed the process of setting up a multi-lingual WordPress website. From now on, you can write posts in different languages and visitors can switch between different languages, just like you are reading now on this website.
